About a week ago, I looked out onto our front lawn and saw some wild violets beginning to grow there. Because we’re a little…passionate, shall we say, about using what we’ve been given, I quickly googled to see if we could use wild violets in any culinary attempts.

Enter violet jelly, which is apparently a THING in Europe. Who knew?
I do, now.

So I polled facebook to find out if anyone knew of a local source for a large quantity of violets. A kind someone graciously volunteered their lawn. Today, I took our oldest to their lawn and made a game of getting as many violets before a forecasted rainstorm, which still hasn’t happened. Those weathermen.

We gathered about two quart-sized ziplock baggies between their lawn and ours.

Gather your violets. Make sure they are from a safe place where pesticides have not been sprayed.

Pour boiling water over violets, and let sit for two to three hours, stirring occasionally. Strain the flowers out, making sure to press out all of the water. You should have 3-1/2 cups of blue-green colored violet water.

Add lemon juice, pectin, and sugar and stir. Transfer to a 4-quart pot.

Bring to boil, boil for one minute. Skim off foamy residue.

We chose to strain the liquid as we poured it into our sterilized jars. This is optional---we just wanted a very smooth texture to our jelly.

When I was a little girl, I had a friend named Christina. Her older brother and my older brother were best friends, so we had a lot of play dates. She was my first experience with homeschooled children, and she made it so enviable. Their lives were very fun.

One evening, when I was five or six, I was at their house, and she asked her mom if we could make Mississippi Mud cookies. I had NO idea that kids our age were even allowed to make cookies. My friend seemed experienced and confident in the kitchen, and her mom said yes.

Looking back, I’m so impressed with Mrs. S. for allowing two such little girls to control the cookie baking operation, when she was probably inwardly cringing at everything we did. I hope to grant that same outward calm to my kids and to allow them to experience kitchen tasks at an early age.

This is the recipe we made that night, and I’ve been making ever since. It never gets old, but does go best with a glass of cool milk.

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Mississippi Mud Cookies

For a comforting, homey, chocolate peanut butter treat, these oatmeal no-bake cookies will be just the thing! Growing up near the Mississippi River, these cookies were called Mississippi Mud cookies, but I've heard that they're called all manner of things from "Preacher Cookies" to "Cow Patties." Whatever you call them, they're delicious!